Sister Moon Ready to Roll in Anoakia

Confidence and good horses are a tough combination to beat. Right now, Joel Rosario is
benefiting on both fronts.

The 26-year-old jockey won four straight races (the first,
second, third and fifth; he had no mount in the fourth) at Santa Anita
Saturday to take a 17-16 lead over Rafael Bejarano in the jockeys’
standings. Rosario finished second on his last four mounts in races six
through nine.

Next Saturday, Rosario rides the favorite in the $65,000 Anoakia
Stakes, romping maiden winner Sister Moon for John Sadler in the six
furlong test for 2-year-old fillies.

Sister Moon worked six furlongs on Santa Anita’s main track
Saturday in a bullet 1:11.60. The daughter of Dixie Union owned and bred
by Jerry and Ann Moss won her maiden race on Aug. 21 by 9 ¼ lengths
under Rosario, who was aboard for Saturday’s drill.

“She worked good and she was really impressive in her maiden
win,” Rosario said. “That was on Polytrack and Saturday she runs on
dirt, but she’s been working good. We’ll see how much better she gets
when she runs.

“She has a lot of talent. She’s classy. When you ask her to go,
she’ll do whatever you ask her to, and that’s most important. There’s no
need to rush her into longer races right now.
The race at Del Mar was her first one and we didn’t know what we had,
but it turns out it was really impressive.

“Right now we’re just working with her and we’ll see what we’ve got.”

Despite his success on Saturday, it’s a sure thing Rosario won’t
win a race at Santa Anita today. He rides at Woodbine, where among his
mounts is Kara’s Orientation in the $1.5 million Canadian International.